So the port security bill is important. Congress knows that it probably should have passed one, oh, say, five years ago. But it hasn't.
So here we are, at the end of the Congress and it knows it has to pass something. Which means that everyone's favorite corrupt Senator is considering using a bill that is aimed at installing radiation detectors at ports as a means to protect the phone companies if they illegally hand over your confidential phone information to the government.
From a Washington Post story:
Republican sources said Alaskan Sen. Ted Stevens was considering adding liability protections for phone companies that assist with President George W. Bush's warrantless domestic spying program, called the Terrorist Surveillance Program.
Stevens, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, is one of the senators from the Republican majority working on the text of the compromise House-Senate port security bill.
But this passage is even more frustrating:
Some Democratic senators and their aides said they had not seen a text of the ports measure, and were opposed to the idea of a telephone company liability shield.
I can't say that this is surprising, but it is reminscent of various 2002 dirty campaign tricks. Stick a provision into a must-pass bill at the last minute--don't even let the democrats read it--and then make them decide whether they want to fund radiation scanners and protect phone companies, or protect your privacy--and for that matter, the constitution, since the courts have already ruled this illegal--and get labeled "soft on terrorism."
Brilliant politics, really, though the provision would certainly be disastrous for civil rights.
On the bright side, this provision is still, apparently, under discussion. I realize it's a weekend, and that a sitting congressman just resigned for sending suggestive IMs to children, but it might be nice if the Democrats can find a way to draw attention to this--and defeat it.